"This is the first system that brings the highest-quality photographic and multispectral images with one-meter resolution into the private sector," said Tom Tadano, director of commercial remote sensing programs. "Such systems were once the exclusive domain of a few governments. This technology will usher in a new paradigm for the commercialization of space imagery."

The satellites will provide high-resolution black and white and multispectral digital pictures and other geographic imagery. These images are used for applications in civil engineering and construction, land management, agriculture, mining, environmental monitoring, tax assessment, infrastructure planning and management, and other areas.

The heart of the remote sensing spacecraft is the LM900 satellite bus. The primary payload is a digital imaging sensor capable of collecting both monochromatic images at a resolution of one meter, and multispectral images with a resolution of four meters. Multispectral images reveal information that cannot be gleaned from photographic images, such as chlorophyll content, chemical composition, and surface water penetration. Users will be able to combine panchromatic and multispectral images to produce images that yield advantages of both techniques.

The satellite's 680-kilometer altitude and speed of nearly seven kilometers per second give it a wide field of view and the ability to capture large quantities of data very quickly. For example, it can image a 13-kilometer-wide strip from central Canada to Mexico City in about 10 minutes.

Missiles & Space will also be responsible for on-orbit operations and maintenance of both remote sensing satellites and associated ground stations.

To maximize the utility of the vast amount of data collected by the satellites, Missiles & Space is developing the Intelligent Library System (ILS), a large-scale digital repository that will allow SIE to store remote sensing data, as well as to exploit and distribute the multispectral imagery and geographic information to customers around the world.

ILS is derived from the U.S. government's Imagery Dissemination and Exploitation system, which is used to manage and manipulate remote sensing imagery for a variety of purposes. Remote sensing systems provide a great deal of raw data and require immense storage facilities and powerful computing capabilities. ILS will be able to store multi-pedabytes (1,000 terabytes) of data.

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